Joseph DeVore's Blog: Windows Passwords

I've been locked out of a Windows VM on several occasions because of one reason or another - most of the time it's because I set the password, use the VM for a while and then I don't log in for long enough to totally forget what the password was. Since I've done this soooo many times, I figured OK, it's time I find a reliable utility to reset the SAM data for Windows users.

In VMWare Fusion on my Mac I just downloaded this ISO file and set it as the CD ISO. When the VM starts up, I hit ESC and it offers me the list of boot devices. I choose the CD ROM and then viola, my password resetting utility loads up. I follow the prompts, reset the locked out status, change the password to blank and then I restart the VM instance. Once Windows loads up, my password is blank and the account isn't locked out any longer so it loads without me having to log in. Worked like a charm!! Now if only I had found this updated ISO before I deleted my Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista Premium VMs due to my old utility not writing back to the SAM.

Anyhow, in short, this tool rocks the rocking horse. Enjoy~ -JD